Full of Surprises
by Princess Claire Fey
Summary: Katara comes home from a long hunt expecting little more than an end to several days of frustration. But every once and a while, her betrothed likes to surprise her.


Katara was still getting used to wearing her new necklace. An odd thing to think about at a time like this, with her muscles aching and her _chi_ exhausted from today's strain. Nevertheless the grip of silk around her neck and the texture of carved, smooth white jade between her collarbones plagued the waterbender's mind. It had been a surprise, her girlf- _betrothed_ presenting it to her the day before their arrival. Her skin had yet to acclimate to the new fabric. Katara had a lot of things to _acclimate_ to, in fact. Even though she was in the heart of the heartland, the south pole. Living among her friends and family in a time of peace she could only dream about as a little girl. It was familiar but different. Same places, same faces (though with some notable new ones, what with the help from the north), different atmosphere.

Or maybe she was still getting used to _who_ had given her the pendent and _how_ she had gotten it. When she had come home on that fateful day, she hadn't expected it. Leastwise from the very-Fire Nation woman whom she'd grown attached too. Katara had accepted it immediately. It was hard not to: the two of them had had some hard times over the last couple years, to be sure, but by then there was little doubt in Katara's mind that she'd found the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. It had meant a great deal to her that she'd gone ahead with such a distinctly _Water Tribe_ tradition. Hand-crafted, carved, and everything. Sure, if it were someone else from her tribe it might have been expected but... nobody was expecting a _Fire Nation Princess_, born and raised deep within a foreign land to adhere to their tradition.

Though when she had first put Azula's necklace around her neck, she hadn't been thinking about any other consequences. She hadn't been thinking about how it would change the way people looked at her, even her own family. She hadn't been ready for the coldeness and the arguments and the stares. Not even slightly. Before everyone had tolerated the two of them. They had kept out of sight, for the most part, their relationship an open secret. That had been easier to do away from the pole, where the only people she had to appease were her friends and comrades instead of her blood-kin.

But when she put that necklace on and stepped out onto the sea-ice Katara's relationship with a _woman_, a firebender who used to be their enemy, became a matter of public record. No more hushed conversations in the privacy of igloos and tents, on expeditions and hunts. Out in the open where she could hear them and their distaste. The bare tolerance she had been getting before faded away with their arrival. Their mere existence, the notion that they'd dare show themselves in front of them and go so far as to _marry_ offended them.

It was wasn't completely universal. At least she could count on her brother, her father, Gran-Gran - even if they didn't really _get_ it. Katara appreciated that respect in the midst of it all, the sour atmosphere that radiated off of most everyone else wore her down. She was a sympathetic animal, and such negativity was exhausting.

It had been only two days on expedition - short, given the season. Some minor injuries to heal, obstacles to remove, ice-bridges to make. Easy work for a 100-years-war veteran, comparatively. And yet she felt entirely spent - drained to the very last recess of energy. _One more_ comment about her 'strong water blood' from Tupiq and just _one more_ thinly-veiled criticism of Azula's choice in symbolism from Nauja and she might have _snapped_. Why some people couldn't just accept help when it was offered without offering their opinions on her life choices was simply beyond Katara.

The snow had fallen lightly last night but it may as well have been waist-deep. The days were shorter now that winter was fast on approach, and Katara had hoped to have returned to their igloo before sunset. But now with the red barely on the horizon the best she could hope for was to collapse on the bed and hope for a better tomorrow. And to add insult to injury, Nauja had lost the scent on the pod of wolf-seals so she'd be coming home empty-handed and unappreciated by her party whom she had abandoned the moment the village (though it was hardly a village anymore, what with all the _improvements_) had came clearly into sight.

Perhaps in a different time she may have meandered like they did, sticking together and sharing a few laughs to erase the days troubles before finally splitting up and heading to their respective homes once the sky had gone completely dark. Though this time Katara took the direct route, walking straight home where at the very least there would be some warmth and company.

Even in the waning light, Katara could see the air she exhaled form a mist as she stood in front of the door. She managed to stop herself and take a moment - no matter what happened during these past couple of days she was going to try her best not to take it out on anyone else, leastwise her betrothed. It had taken practice, but Katara was getting better at letting her agitations from elsewhere spill over into her interactions with everyone else.

_3, 2, 1..._

The hard wooden door gave way and immediately Katara found herself assaulted by a potent warmth and the unmistakable smell of something cooking on the fire. She put on a smile as she walked through the arch-like entryway. Azula usually began her evening mediation around this time, so it wasn't too unexpected for there to be the warmth and flicker of flame (though this much was far more than usual). The smell however, was entirely a surprise: Azula usually couldn't be found dead _cooking_.

"Welcome home, Katara. I trust your expedition wasn't too dreadful?"

Katara couldn't help but smile at her welcome, delightfully boring as always. It had taken Katara a long time to realize that that was the way she was with everyone - keeping her emotional cards to her chest almost like a man would, speaking in the same dull tones. It was worrying, though it certainly had its advantages: it made those few smiles she did get all the more meaningful

"About as much as you'd expect" she answered honestly, doing her best not to immediately begin unloading the worst of her day onto her wife as she sat down, leastwise the comments that her party had made. "Nauja lost the scent, so there wasn't too much to do" Katara explained as she sat down next to Azula, who herself was perched cross-legged on a number of pillows, gazing into her own blue flames.

Unexpected or not, though, the warmth from the fire and something she could actually _smell_ (now that her nose wasn't occupied with not freezing off) was a welcome change of scenery. Tui, Katara hadn't felt this warm since she left. And she hadn't _expected_ to until the two of them settled down for the night, where Azula's inner fire effortlessly radiated enough heat for the both of them once they were wrapped tightly in fur blankets.

The waterbender's hungry eyes shifted from her wives' own to the plate of fish laying next to the fire pit. "I take it you and Sokka...?"

"Indeed" the woman answered swiftly, her head turning to look her way for the first time since she had come in. "Your brother made a big show of explaining the ins and outs of fishing. He seemed quite surprised that striking the water with electricity was more effective than a spear."

Katara let out a laugh as she held her arms up to allow Azula to remove her thick fur parka. "Sokka's teaching you how to fish?"

"Actually, we can't seem to quite figure out who's teaching who" she explained, wrapping the garment and quickly standing up to place it with the others. "But we're quite satisfied with the results, really. Low levels of electricity seem to stun them; your brother has a much easier time when his target isn't moving." she sat back down, this time a little closer. "Why don't you try some of the spoils?"

She looked over at the single plate, which had two fish fillets both with some kind of seasoning. She hesitated.

"I've already eaten." Azula assured. "I didn't know when you'd be coming back, after all." Katara felt two warm hands on her shoulders, causing her to shiver slightly. Wrapping yourself in fur only does so much to keep you warm through the southern winter, which made her cool skin a sharp contrast to the firebender's borderline-hot hands.

Assured that it wouldn't be rude to do so, Katara grabbed the plate for herself. "You've been waiting for me?" Katara asked, feeling almost flattered that her betrothed had been sitting here for however long waiting for her to come home, when she could very well have been delayed by many hours or more. It wasn't too uncommon for expeditions to be held up by the hunt or the weather, sometimes even for days.

"Of course" Azula answered nonchalantly, as if it wasn't the norm for her to go to sleep as soon as the sun fell beyond the horizon (a firebender habit that would be difficult to maintain during the dark period). "It simply wouldn't be proper to not welcome you home from your hunt"

"And..." Katara's future wife trailed off.

"I missed you." she added.

Her face couldn't help but turn red. "I missed you too." she replied after taking another bite. _Missed._ Didn't even begin to cover it. Listening to Nauja and Tupiq on a long trek to nowhere, it was hard to think about anything else but returning home and burying her face in the crook of her future wife's neck, away from the cold and the unsolicited 'opinions'. "I kept wishing you were there." she added.

Long sharp fingernails (a few of which had obviously broken since Katara had last seen her) moved from her back to her scalp, sating a thousand itches that had been out of her reach. "They didn't treat you too harshly, did they?"

Katara set her fork down on the plate. "No" she lied. "Well, it's just..."

"What did they do?" Azula asked, in that eerily familiar voice that reminded Katara of the woman's father.

"It's nothing like that. It's just." A pause. "I thought it would have been different. We're like family. There were so few of us-" _thanks to the war_, she omitted, not needing to dredge up that particular subject. "-so we all knew eachother. When one of us had a problem, we all pitched in to help because that was just how we survived, you know? Nobody _really_ fought because we had to stick together. We were all brother and sisters."

Katara paused for some time, but Azula knew better to interrupt her when she was like this. Instead she just kept her comment about _brothers and sisters_ to herself and continued to scratch Katara's scalp, occasionally stopping to work out the kinks in her hair.

"But I don't feel like a sister anymore. I feel like people look at me, and..." A sniffle. "all they see is the future wife of the Fire Nation Princess, a traitor. They don't say it out loud but I know they're thinking it. Even dad." she finished, looking down at the ground.

Azula stopped for a moment, running her hands downwards again while she thought briefly. She wished she had her love's talent for repairing the heart; most of Katara's efforts over that long year at the madhouse had been getting her to lower her barriers, to let her glimpse inside. Once Azula had let her, things became much easier - she knew what to do and no longer fired off into the dark as she had done in the beginning.

However her own abilities were woefully inadequate. Often times, her attempts to soothe her girlfriend had had the opposite effect, much to her chagrin. It was only more recently that Azula felt that she was gaining any ground at all in learning what Katara knew how to do by instinct. At the very least, their settlement in the Southern Pole had given her many opportunities to try new things with varying success. Though this time was different; Azula couldn't afford to experiment here.

_Well, Sokka certainly doesn't feel that way_. Incorrect. That would come across as minimizing her problem.

_You shouldn't care what they thi-_ Incorrect. That would be denying her feelings.

_Then perhaps you should remind them that without you the village would still be in-_ No, Incorrect. Katara isn't looking for action, she's looking for emotional support. And reminding her of the war probably wouldn't help either.

The Princess found herself gripped by the strangest bout of insanity. Her mind flooded with useless words with the texture of icing sugar, all of which she felt an inexplicable compulsion to say. "...I love you" she managed, wrapping her betrothed in an embrace while she contemplated her own words. "And... I don't know about anyone else, but I wish I could've had a sister like you." she said truthfully. "You're that kind of person that everyone needs to know. You're strong in ways that people like me usually don't think about. Regardless of what they think of you, if anything were to happen to them you'd be right there at an instant to do what you could." _Probably over my objection_, she didn't add.

She paused for a moment and allowed her voice to return to normal. "The fact that they don't recognize that makes them fools, and you shouldn't let the word of fools get to you." She finished, pressing her head against hers, not saying what she wanted to say - that she would defend her honor if it came to it. Azula wouldn't allow anyone to hurt Katara, just as she hadn't let anyone harm her when her mind was fragile as untempered porcelain. Though Katara probably wouldn't find the comparison flattering, Azula found her situation similar to the one she had been in not long ago, following her release from the place with padded walls and doctors armed with sedatives that made her feel as if there was an eclipse. Nobody wanted to be near her, she was the mad princess. Everyone knew, and they kept their distance appropriately - even her brother with all his desire for peace and reconciliation held back. They all thought that she could go off any moment, in another mad rage.

Azula knew on a very personal level what it was like to come home only to have former comrades look upon you with scorn and distrust.

Katara felt her face turning red and an unstoppable urge to smile. "Thank you." she said far more quietly than intended, Azula's unexpected words having made her forget the day's troubles (at least for a moment). "I love you too." she practically whispered, running a hand across Azula's arms, turning her head and awkwardly kissing the head that currently rested on her shoulder.

A warm meal, expert hands with pointed nails, and heartfelt words rarer than the full moon were more than enough to make Katara forget about the day's struggles. Azula was just full of surprises tonight.


End file.
